By Shelby Brooks
An Emerald artist is carving out a space for other emerging modern and contemporary artists in the hills area after finding art helped her heal through a traumatic period in her life.
Martha Silver Breninger, owner of Raven Orb Gallery in Emerald, is passionate about supporting other female artists and showcasing their works.
“I think there are a lot of artists, particularly women in Emerald, that haven’t quite popped up and showed their head because there’s not much of a market for contemporary art up here,” Martha said.
“So I’m trying to pull out people that kind of fit with a more contemporary gallery compared to the art societies that are more for the older generation.
“I really enjoy connecting with artists that I love and that I follow, and reaching out to them and giving them space to display their art.”
Martha, a mixed medium artist herself, is relatively new to the art world, after starting her journey only a few years ago.
“I found art about four and a half years ago, when I was about two and a half years sober and recovering from pretty significant trauma around domestic violence and addiction,” Martha said.
“A friend introduced me to needle felting and I found it very therapeutic. A lot of the dolls we were making were based around healing, so dolls for self-love and empowerment and things like that.
Martha said needle felting activated a creative drive within her, which helped her recovery.
“I started using art specifically for healing in those areas and just building my own self-esteem and self-love back up,” she said.
“It’s a way of expressing even the pain. It just comes through when you put pencil to paper or hands on clay. It’s really it’s very, very helpful.”
Martha began her journey into the art world with exhibitions locally in Olinda and Kallista, the former funded by a grant from Cardinia Shire Council.
She then began an online business for her art, which has gained international attention, particularly from the United States.
“A lot of women have experienced those things [addiction and domestic violence],” Martha said.
“So I’ve got a lot of very large following now and sold many, many artworks overseas to women who also need healing from those things.
“It just naturally kind of gravitated to that and to people through the storytelling.”
A lot of Martha’s work is focussed on ideas around finding the light in darkness, rebirth and transformation.
“With going through such a darkness it has definitely inspired those themes of female transformational rebirth. It’s very present in every piece that I do,” Martha said.
“But I continue to have the conversation with hundreds of women around the world around that. And keep sharing the story.”
“I want to spread hope and inspiration. That you can go from that to being homeless and without anything and no money to feed your children and feeling trapped in hopelessness to being an international artist, inspiring hundreds of women and having a good income and owning a gallery.”
